Another Peterson juror ousted

November 11, 2004

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The Scott Peterson murder trial took yet another strange twist Wednesday when the judge removed the jury's foreman after a week of pressure-packed deliberations that have only added to the courtroom drama in the case.

The judge did not disclose why he removed the juror--the second such dismissal in as many days. The latest ousted juror was replaced by an alternate whose future son-in-law owns a restaurant that Scott and Laci Peterson themselves once owned.

For the second day in a row, Judge Alfred Delucchi told the new panel to start over with its deliberations.

"You must therefore set aside all past deliberations and begin deliberating anew," he said Wednesday.

The back-to-back removal of jurors is unusual but does not signal that the jury is either hopelessly split or moving swiftly toward a verdict, legal experts said.

Some observers said jurors may be succumbing to the pressure of being in an intense and prolonged spotlight. They have endured a five-month trial and have been sequestered since deliberations began Nov. 3.

"I think all the strange happenings with the jury can be attributed to the fact that they're in a pressure cooker. They know there will be a great deal of scrutiny no matter what decision they make," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson.

Robert Talbot, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law who has been periodically observing the trial, added: "I've never seen anything like this before."

Some jurors sat impassively, grim-faced, as Delucchi announced the latest change. Others were seen smiling slightly, and one even shook the new foreman's hand.

The trial started with six alternates, and Wednesday's move leaves the jury pool with just three remaining alternates.

Jurors are deliberating whether Peterson, 32, killed his pregnant wife on or around Christmas Eve 2002 and dumped her weighted body in San Francisco Bay.